UN announces humanitarian pause in Yemen

Yemen’s exiled government had wanted the rebels to withdraw from the cities and towns they had overrun since September as a precondition to a truce, but it came under pressure to agree to a halt in violence immediately.

In the south, coalition warplanes also hit rebels in the port city of Aden and nearby Lahj province, witnesses said.

Despite the disagreements, al-Shami says the U.N.-sponsored talks that began Sunday are continuing in the capital- Sanaa. On the Saudi side of the border, at least 44 civilians and troops have been killed in skirmishes and shelling.

The Saudi-led coalition aims to restore Hadi and drive what it called Iran-allied rebels out of power.

But the United Nations spokesman did not specifically state that a Saudi-led coalition which has been bombing the rebels for over three months had pledged to abide by the truce.

The exiled foreign minister said his government was not against a humanitarian pause in Yemen, but anxious that the Houthis would take advantage of the truce to extend their reach.

Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said he did not expect the truce to be successful in a televised speech on Friday.

Saudi air raids also targeted the southern province of Dhale.

Sanaa, July 11 (IANS): Fighting raged in Yemen after a UN-brokered humanitarian truce came into effect early Saturday with the warring parties being accused of breaching the ceasefire, officials and witnesses said.

Coalition spokesman Brigadier-General Ahmed al-Assiri said the alliance was “not concerned with this truce because it does not provide a commitment from the Huthi militia”.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has received assurances from the Houthis, the General People’s Congress and other parties that “the pause will be fully respected and that there will be no violations from any combatants under their control”, UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told a daily briefing.

Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the second-in-command of the rebels who heads the powerful Revolutionary Council, welcomed the truce, saying he hoped it would translate into the lifting of the blockade.

The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that more than 21 million people in need of humanitarian aid in Yemen – 80 per cent of the population and millions of people one step away from starvation.

United Nations aid agencies are ready to scale up operations during the pause, although the response to an appeal for $1.6 billion has been meagre, with just 13% of that amount received so far.

A five-day hiatus agreed to in May did not allow in almost enough food, fuel and other supplies to meet the needs of the battered country’s 25 million people, according to aid agencies.

Etefa said the WFP managed over the past week to deliver 9,000 tonnes of food to its warehouses in Yemen, adding that the truce is needed to secure its delivery.

It said a number of women and children were among the dead.